20 Free Tools To Open, Edit and Create PDF Documents

Simple things like splitting a document into several pages or fixing a simple typo – these  tasks can be easily done on any text file but are far more complicated when needed to be done on a PDF document. That’s why I decided to share with you some great apps that will make your work with PDF documents much easier, faster and more efficient. And the best part is – all of them are free!



Here’s what you can do with PDF docs: 

Open PDF files without hogging resources

If you used Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 or 8, you surely went trough the pain of having to wait 30 seconds to open a PDF file. The latest version of the program, Acrobat Reader 9, improved a lot in performance but many users turned to other lighter and faster tools such as Foxit PDF Reader and Cool PDF Reader. Both offer maximum compatibility, though Cool PDF Reader stands out for its size – only 600 KBs. Foxit includes more features and can be embedded into web browsers. Excellent one!

Create PDF documents with a virtual printer

Some years ago you could only create PDF files with Adobe Acrobat and the Distiller module. Luckily now you can choose between quite a few virtual printers that make use of GhostScript to create a fully compatible PDF file out of anything you print, with no limitations or watermarks at all. The most popular one is PDFCreator, though you can also use DoPDF and Bullzip. DoPDF produces smaller files, while Bullzip can encrypt the file and add watermarks.

Open PDF files in Microsoft Office and OpenOffice

Being able to open a PDF file from a productivity suite certainly eases your workflow. If you need to convert a document from PDF to DOC, you can use these free apps: Some PDF to Word Converter and Free PDF to Word Converter. Both try to keep the structure and layout of the original document, but the truth is that results may vary. At least the first one, Some PDF to Word Converter, lets you process several documents simultaneously.

Split and join pages, cut, annotate…

If you need to join PDF files into one or split a large document into several pages, there are also free apps for that. PDF Split & Merge and Adolix Split & Merge PDFPDFill PDF Editor and jPdf Tweak feature a wide range of options. But if you’re looking for a really powerful tool, then you should have a look at , two excellent apps that can add watermarks, combine and split documents, rotate pages and add notes, among other possibilities.

Copy and print text from protected PDF files

Some PDF files have copying or printing restrictions, which can be a nuisance. To copy text from a protected PDF you can use FreeOCR.net, a tool that scans documents with a powerful optical recognition engine. Another option is creating an unprotected copy of the file, which you can do with Free PDF Unlocker. This tool uses GhostScript to extract all the information and save into a new document. It has no graphic interface, but is very easy to use.
That’s it. You see that you can do many things on PDF documents for free and without using Adobe Acrobat and other premium software.

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